Intersectionality and Sexual harassment
What is Intersectionality?
Intersectionality is a fast-growing and important consideration in the areas of sexual harassment and diversity, equity and inclusion. Research has demonstrated that sexual harassment is complex and based in various forms of power, including social and political power. We now know that intersectional discrimination – overlapping experiences of oppression and disadvantage – is a key driver of sexual harassment. As such, intersectionality must be at the core of our efforts to prevent and respond to sexual harassment and related unlawful conduct.
The term ‘intersectionality’ was coined by scholar and activist Kimberlé Crenshaw, who argued that it is important to understand how all the aspects of a person’s social and political identities relate to each other and produce a unique experience of privilege and discrimination. Crucially, an intersectional perspective emphasises that people do not encounter this privilege and discrimination separately: these factors interact, influencing each person’s experience.
For example, all women experience sexism, but what this experience of sexism looks and feels like for an individual woman will be influenced by other identity factors, like her race, whether she has a disability, whether she is First Nations, her gender identity and her sexuality.
The numbers
The numbers bear out. In 2022, the Australian Human Rights Commission found that 33% of all Australians, and 41% of Australian women, had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the previous 5 years. Compare this to:
60% of women aged 15-17 and 56% of women aged 18-29
60% of people who identified as lesbian
59% of First Nations women
54% of women with a disability
70% of people with an intersex variation
In 2023, Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) released a report analysing a key aspect of workplace sexual harassment: the intersection between gender, race and migration status. ANROWS surveyed 701 migrant and refugee women to capture crucial insight into this overlooked population’s experience of sexual harassment. 46% of respondents to the survey had experienced ‘at least one form’ of sexual harassment in an Australian workplace in the last 5 years. This is a significant and concerning jump from the AHRC’s national figure of 33%.
Both systemic and overt forms of racial and gender discrimination interact to make migrant and refugee women more likely to experience sexual harassment. When asked what they thought the motivation behind their sexual harassment was, the most common response among respondents to the survey was that perpetrators harassed them due to a combination of their sex and their race or religion. Their experience of sexual harassment was therefore compounded by their identities as members of a marginalised gender and of racial and/or religious minorities.
Why understanding intersectionality is critical for workplaces
From this research, ANROWS concluded that ‘a more comprehensive understanding of the intersections of discrimination that can underpin sexual harassment’ must form the base of all policies to prevent and respond to it. The AHRC echoes this, identifying intersectionality as a guiding principle in their positive duty compliance framework. This means that for an organisation to effectively prevent and respond to relevant unlawful conduct under the positive duty it must incorporate intersectionality into its policies, processes and actions. In particular, organisations must consider how intersecting forms of discrimination could influence the risk and impact of sexual harassment and other relevant lawful conduct among their workforce.
In confronting the pervasive issue of sexual harassment, intersectionality emerges as a crucial approach for analysis and action. Organisational strategy moving forward must prioritise an intersectional approach, recognising that no one's experience exists in isolation. It is through commitment to intersectionality that organisations can foster a workplace culture rooted in true equality and inclusivity.